Imperishable Night
by Vampireninja101
Summary: We were mischievous. We were fine. We had each other. Just us, ourselves, and we. Little did we know it would be our very mischievous fun that would lead us to our demise...but untimely it would also lead us to our rebirth... As the same pranksters we once were...but more.
1. Chapter 1

**All right, inspiration hit me after I was scrolling through Tumblr and while I was watching The Nightmare before Christmas. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare before Christmas, nor the theories brought about in this story**

***Warning this may be triggering to some people***

**Their Time Was Now**

_**Sheryl's POV**_

"Bobby!" I screamed from where I stood next to Lloyd on the snowy shore. Our eyes were wide as we stared, frozen, in horror as the scene unfolded before us. The massive storm continued to rage on: ominous thunder rumbling, white lightning brightening the dark grey sky, rain pelting down on everyone at the site, and the waves of the freezing cold water rolling.

"Bobby! Grab hold!" Cried an officer as he and a small team waded in a little boat toward a small, rotund boy. A floatation device was tossed to him as he thrashed about in the bitter cold lake, with massive chunks of ice drifting on its surface.

Our short-haired, five-year-old friend struggled immensely to keep his head afloat, but as he did so, water poured into his mouth making him cough. "Come on!" The emergency team shouted from the top of the hill behind Lloyd and I. "Let's go, go, go! Get that boy to shore!" _What the hell did they think the officers were _trying_ to do!?_

"Bobby!" Lloyd cried next to me, then grabbed my arm shaking me. "We have to help him, Sher!"

"What're you, crazy?" I snapped, snatching my arm out of his grasp, "We'll die out there! Let the officers handle it!"

"Yeah, and look where that's getting all of us!" He shouted back. Our hair and clothes was plastered to our drenched bodies and we glared at each other, before I took a breath and we returned our attention to our struggling friend.

Bobby was losing his strength with each passing moment making it virtually impossible for the rescue team to bring him in. His eyes closed but he still tried with all of his remaining might to keep his head from going under in the raging storm. Lloyd and I watched helplessly from the shore. Things weren't supposed to go this far, not in the least.

All we intended on doing today was some harmless ice skating. Joke was on us this time and the ice was not frozen through entirely. Lloyd and I were able to scramble to safety, but Bobby was not so lucky. We tried to reach for him, but the growing storm caused the waves to push him further and further away from us. I never thought the day would come when I would thank his overly-watchful mother spying over us and immediately calling her husband followed by the rest of the emergency protocol.

"Sir!" I was ripped from my thoughts when one of the officers in the boat called out to the chief, who was now swimming over to Bobby. A moment later, he grabbed onto the floatation device.

"Son!" His breath was ragged due to the immensely cold water he was wading in, fighting to keep his own head above as the waves were not ceasing. Bobby cracked his eyes open and struggled to turn his head to face him.

"D-Dad." He said weakly.

"It's okay, son! It's okay!" The chief extended one hand towards him while the other held fast to the floatation device. "Just take my hand!" Before either of them could make a move, another wave sliced between them, sending Bobby under. "Bobby!" The officer screamed and I felt my heart lurch as I threw my hands to my mouth, my eyes widened and were brimming with tears.

"Bobby!" Lloyd echoed with equal fear in his voice, which rose to the sky only to be drowned out by the loud thunder which shook the world around us.

It pained me to imagine Bobby's small body being tossed around in the dark, cold, merciless depths like a mere ragdoll. The officer was panicking even more, screaming his son's name and trying to push away the water to find him. He began dunking himself under, blindly groping underneath him, but was ultimately hauled back onto the boat by the rest of his team. They struggled to restrain him and finally succeeded, and were then brought back to the cold, grey shore where Lloyd and I, as well as the rest of the emergency response teams, stood.

After a while, the officers managed to bring their chief into the safety of the ambulance where he was treated from the shock and cold as best as the paramedics could in the current situation. Lloyd and I were left on the edge of the shore, where we stood from the moment the ice began to break. Above the rain continued to pelt us, the thunder and lightning slowly fading away, yet the storm of vocals from the top of the hill shadowed in darkness did not cease as easily.

"It's because of those rotten children that this happened."

"They're the spawn of Satan, I swear!"

"It's Christmas Eve and, on this night, a young, innocent boy was murdered because of their foolishness. Let alone, he was the chief's son!"

I just continued to stare at the water lapping at the earth under my black, soaking, muddy shoes. My long, wavy, black hair stuck tight to my purple jacket due to the rain, and water dripped from every inch of my body. Beside me, Lloyd was no better off. Huge droplets hung from his slick, red hair and trickled down his long face. His red coat was drenched and it was nearly impossible to distinguish his red and white sneakers under all of the mud that was caked on them.

"This is all their fault and no one else's." I heard one more woman mutter before the vehicles and crowd departed us.

There we were. Just the two of us: Lloyd and I. Just two seven-year-olds who had just lost their only other closest friend. It was always just the three of us. Sure, we made trouble, but we didn't necessarily mean any _harm_ by it. It was just some fun, little mischief is all it was! But, from here on out, things were going to be different. There was no going back now.

"Come on, Sher." Lloyd said softly as he turned. "Let's go home." After a moment, I followed his lead.

We walked for what seemed like ages, back to the little treehouse we called home. The world around us had not changed in its monotone colors of grey and black since the three of us set foot on that ice a mere few hours ago. A mere few hours ago that everything was completely different than it was now. Out of the three of us, Bobby was the only one who had a family. Mine abused and deserted me when I was about four, and Lloyd's family just up and left him one day when he was even younger than that.

As we walked along the street with our heads bowed, black curtains were drawn in the grey houses, and lights dimmed out. They all knew what we had done. News spread fast in this town, it always did. Neither of us spoke the entire trip. Our eyes were too fixated on the wet pavement under our feet and our minds were too preoccupied by the horrors we had just witnessed. However, Lloyd and I finally made it to our little, grey, wooden treehouse in a moderately-sized black tree, which stood in the midst of a forest near Bobby's home.

We slowly climbed up the ladder and took our place in random spots under the shelter. Lloyd placed his hands behind him and leaned against the wall while I took a seat to his right on the shaggy, light grey carpet we had placed in the center of the tiny walled-in area. The thunder slowly drifted off into the distance and the rain lightened significantly but still, neither of us uttered a sound. We just continued to gaze at the boards under us and I traced a finger, which poked out of my black gloves, in circles on the damp, dull wood. I just couldn't believe it . . . that we had lost a friend whom we'd known for forever.

"Damn . . ." I looked up, startled at Lloyd's sudden voice while he snarled at the floor. "Why'd he have to die. . ."

"Because we're just a bunch of good-for-nothing, mischievous kids who are good for nothing but trouble." I replied looking down.

"We didn't mean anyone any _harm_, though! Especially to lil' ol' Bobby!"

"You don't have to remind me of that, Lloyd!" I glared at him, "I know that damn it!" He sighed and looked away and I did the same. "Numbskull." I muttered under my breath.

"What did you say?!" He growled before launching himself on top of me. We rolled around on the boards, clawing at each other's' clothes and hair and scratching ourselves in the process as we snarled and fought. Finally, he grabbed a good, firm hold of my long hair.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, okay, okay! Let go, you jerk!" I screeched.

He did so and we sat across from each other, catching our breath. "Look, I'm sorry." He forced himself to say as he looked down, his elbows supported on his kneecaps.

"Yeah, right." I wiped my mouth with my drenched sleeve. "We've always fought since the day we met."

"Yeah, and once Bobby tagged along the day after, he tried to break us up." He snorted mockingly, "And look how well that ended up." His eyes drifted away, "Just ended up in the midst of our bickering."

It was quiet between us again, only the sound of falling rain outside, and the occasional dripping into our treehouse, broke the stillness. Although it was merely minutes, the time seemed to stretch on for hours until I broke it, "What was so wrong with a little fun?" I pouted, hugging my soaked, shivering self.

"Nobody in this town knows how to loosen up." Lloyd added with an equal grumble.

"Only time they all tolerate us a little more than others is Halloween."

"Too bad that can't be all of the time. . . At least, then, our tricks would be a treat for most people."

"Yeah." I was silent for a few more moments before sighing. "It's all my fault that Bobby's gone . . ." I could easily tell by seeing the way Lloyd moved through my peripheral vision, that he was taken completely by surprise.

"Hey, don't say that, Sher."

"But it is! It was _my_ dumb idea to have him go out on the ice first!"

"_Nobody_ is at fault here."

"Then, if you're going to say that, at least give _your_self some of the credit, too." I retorted, meeting his warily comforting eyes with my own blazing ones. Lloyd was far from use to comforting anybody. Growing up, he had no one to show him proper human communication. Then again, I was no better off. Only Bobby had it best out of all three of us. And, now, he was gone.

Lloyd's eyes were cast over with their familiar glare and he tightened his fist, "Hey, I'm trying to be a good friend in helping you out in the best way that I can!"

"Well, you're sure doing a _fabulous_ job with that!" We stared each other down for a few moments before relaxing.

The two of us took our places on the cold boards again and sat in silence for another long while. The rain continued to fall and trickle into our tiny shelter until I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and approached an old mirror we had propped up against the wall, and took Bobby's baseball bat that he always kept here and smashed the glass.

"Whoa!" Lloyd immediately sprung to his feet and ran over to me, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, what're you doing? Knock it off!"

I whirled around and he leapt back when he saw me holding a large shard pointed at him. "No. Bobby's gone and it's our fault. I'm not living with this guilt anymore, I can't do it!"

"Easy there, Sheryl." He said cautiously, "You don't know what you're doing. I'm in the same boat as you in this situation. We can get through this together."

I shook my head vigorously. "No, you don't understand! I am not about living a life where I am just stuck with _you!_ It will never be the same way again!"

"Hey! Listen to yourself! Is this what Bobby would want?!"

"Bobby's not here, Lloyd! He's dead!" I placed the glass up to my neck, "And I'm gonna join him. I'm not about to keep on living in a world where absolutely nobody wants us around."

"Sheryl, knock it the hell off!" He seized my arm and we began to tussle again.

Back and forth, left and right, trying to pry the glass out of my cut-up gloved hand. Little did we know that we were coming closer and closer to the beams surrounding the deck-like area around the shelter. As I began to tilt backwards, Lloyd continued to press against me and we cried out and fell into the mushy, wet, cold, snow. However, the tree we had our small, almost inexcusable place to call home, was perched on a hill, and as we tumbled through the slush, we continued to fight over the shard.

Finally, we stopped at the base of a hill behind the tree we had our treehouse in and Lloyd continued to fight me. Having absolutely enough, I screamed and kicked him off of me with all of my might. His head struck a tree across from me and he fell into the snow, unconscious, before a mound of white coldness from the entangled branches above him came down to bury him almost completely. I sat there, panting heavily and shivering even more. My clothes were still drenched from the rain and me being stuck in the middle of a snowy forest in the dead of winter only made matters worse. With large clouds escaping my mouth, I took one last look at Lloyd; his dirty soles were barely visible underneath the giant snow mound.

My eyes, then, caught something at my feet and I noticed a black wire that had been weighed down by the snow and ice. I looked around to spot the telephone poles just outside of the forest. I exhaled, another cloud of my breath dissipating into the cold winter air, and cut it with the glass shard. The electricity was incredibly intense and I only flinched for a moment before I shut my eyes tight and screamed as I felt it coursing throughout my body. The shock was so overbearing that it was only a matter of moments until I fell into darkness.

_**Lloyd's POV**_

My breath was ragged and my body convulsed. _Wh-wh-where am I? Wh-wh-why is it so c-c-col-ld?_ I cracked my eyes open to see nothing but white. It hurt so much to breathe, let alone move, but I forced myself to. I struggled immensely to break through the surface and managed to drag myself out of the snow mound with solely my arms; I had lost all feeling from my waist down. The pain was excruciating and I flopped onto my stomach, breathing heavily as the cold seeped deeper into my body. Raising my eyes, I saw a pair of black boots in the snow; their possessor buried under the snow from the knees up. "Sh-Sh-Sheryl." I forced out, my eyes wide, and I tortured myself even more by dragging my numb body over to her lifeless form.

With one arm, I brushed the snow off of her and jumped inside when I uncovered her face. I felt a powerful shock course through me upon touching her, but my body was becoming too heavy from the cold to react. There was a cut live wire in her black-gloved hand and her glassy eyes stared up into the dark grey sky. _Sheryl . . . _By this point I lost absolutely all feeling throughout my entire body and collapsed alongside her. My eyes began to close and darkness began to overcome me. _Heh. Guess we'll both be joining you now, Bobby. . . I guess . . . our time had finally come . . . I guess . . . our time . . . was now._

**So, yeah, pretty dark for a first chapter, but the theories for this movie tie into the mainstream of this story. I do hope you all enjoyed this! This is my absolute favorite movie and cosplaying this trio for Halloween actually sparked my love for these guys. **

**So glad to have come up with a story for them, so I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned and please Review telling me what you think! Thanks for reading and I apologize if this fanfiction ruins your perspective of this movie.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas**

_**A Triad's Rebirth**_

_**Sheryl's POV**_

It was cold . . . and yet . . . it was so comforting, that it almost felt warm._ Where was I? And . . . how did I get here? _

"Hello?" Came a voice. I slowly cracked my eyes open to be greeted by a new, morbid world. My back was lying flat against something, but, for some reason, I could not sit up. "Oh, you're finally awake!" The voice said in relief and I shifted my eyes to see a long, lanky skeleton—in a white pin-striped pair of dress pants and a matching tux with a bat-shaped bow stretched across his chest—leaning over me.

"Who . . . are you?" I asked weakly, noticing my voice sounded just like that of a witch, my dull expression remaining unchanged.

"I am Jack Skellington! I see that you're a new arrival?" He smiled widely before offering me a bony hand. "Here, let me help you up."

I took his massive hand and he pulled me to my feet, he towered over me in such a manner that I only reached his kneecap. After absently gawking at his exaggerated height, I turned around to see what I had been lying on: a grave. _Oh. . . Great. . . How wonderful._ In fact, Jack and I were in the middle of a large graveyard.

"Welcome to our home sweet home!" The skeleton joyfully shouted with outstretched arms before giving me a bow.

"Nice place you got here." I said apathetically.

"Oh, I know you'll grow to _love_ it!"

I continued to scan the grey horizon. The graveyard stretched as far as the eye could see. It was almost as if an entire _town_ was buried here! Among the tombs, stood a hill I had never seen anything like before: it stretched _out_ward, rather than _up_ward, and it curled. _How strange._ Behind it, shone a massive moon. Another thing I had never seen like before in my life . . . well . . . _afterlife_ I suppose. I'm not sure, actually. _Am I dead?_ Apparently, I said this out loud.

"Of course you're dead!" He almost seemed ecstatic by that, "Why else would you be here?"

I faced him, craning my neck to look up at his large, round, eye sockets. "And where exactly _is_ 'here'?"

"Sher!"

"Sheri!"

I gasped and turned around to see two kids, one my age, and another a few years younger, running from behind another set of tombstones. Actually, it was hard to tell how old they were, because one was a short devil and one was a tiny, but very rotund, skeleton boy.

"It's me, Lloyd!" The devil said, his tail was wagging which made my eyes widen and jaw drop. _Could this land get _any weirder?!

"What the heck are you _talking_ about?" My witchy voice cracked, "Lloyd's one of my best friends. There's _no way_ you're him!"

"But, it _is_ him!"

"Huh? And who are _you_, Tubby?"

"It's Bobby!"

My confused expression did not change. I _really_ couldn't believe things now. I folded my arms across my chest and leaned forward, scoffing at him, "Oh, yeah? If you're really Bobby, then where did we last hang out?"

"The lake."

My eyes widened and my chest became cold as I silently stared at him for a few moments. "It _is_ you two. . ."

He nodded. "Uh-huh!"

I stared at him for a while, my arms fell to my sides and my fists tightened, before I slapped him across the face causing him to fall down. "You idiot!" I shouted, hovering over him, "We told you to get off of that ice!"

"Well, it's not _my_ fault!"

"Hey! Leave him alone, Sher!" Lloyd threw himself on me and we commenced fighting again.

"Hey, knock it off, you guys!" Bobby tried to break us up, but I ended up hitting him as I brought my arm down.

Suddenly, we heard a roar and froze in our place as we stared up at Jack, who pulled down his jaw to make a rather terrifying face. "Enough of this!" He ordered, straightening up and scowling down at us with his hands on his hips. "Judging by your attitudes, I'd say you were enemies!"

"_He's_ always been the little _devil!_" I pointed to Lloyd.

"_Me?_ Oh, please! _You're_ the one who's the witch, here!"

"Am not!"

"Have you _heard_ your voice since you woke up?"

"That doesn't _prove_ anything!"

"Sure it does!" Bobby agreed, "Take a look!"

I looked down at my hands to see nothing different, really; I still wore black gloves only these were in one piece, rather than the old ones covered with holes, a purple dress, rather than my jacket, and black boots and stockings. My eyes lifted and I furrowed my brows in puzzlement when I saw a purple rim hovering over my face. Placing my hands on my head, I took off a tall, slender, purple witch's hat. "What the heck?"

"See!" Lloyd cackled, pointing to me, "Your true nature has finally come out!"

It was this that made me fume and hurl myself on top of him again, but, before I could land, Jack grabbed me by the collar of my dress and pulled Lloyd the opposite way by his tail. "I said _enough of this!_"

We finally gave in.

Bobby just stood off to the side, his hands clasped behind his back. That was basically always the situation: while Lloyd and I fought, he just watched after trying to break us up and briefly joining in our frequent tussles.

Lloyd let out a 'humph' as he scowled at me with his yellow eyes, his arms folded, while I was dropped onto my backside, my arms over my chest as I pouted.

"Honestly, you three are such children!"

"Maybe, because we _are!_" Lloyd sang which made the skeleton glare at him.

It was true. Our bodies did not age from when we'd passed away.

Jack glared for a while then sighed, relaxing his tall, lanky body. "I guess it can't be helped. This is your new home, after all."

"Which brings me back to my question from earlier." I interjected, "Where _are_ we?"

His mouth stretched wide with a smile as he opened his arms and a ghost dog, with a glowing jack-o-lantern nose, rose up from the tomb behind him. "Why you're in _Halloween Town!_"

"Halloween Town?" Lloyd echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, you idiot." I put my hands to my hips. "Doesn't it make sense what with all of the tombstones, ghosts, and skeletons around?" I looked him up and down, "And look at _you! You're _in a Halloween costume, _Bobby's_ in a Halloween costume, even _I'm_ in a Halloween costume!"

"Then, since you're making it seem like it was such an obvious observation, how come _you_ didn't point it out?"

I growled and narrowed my eyes in reply.

"Hey, guys, look!" Bobby was now holding three masks. Two long ones and one round enough to fit his perfectly rotund face.

I took one and peeked through the eyeholes. Immediately, Lloyd and Bobby began to snicker. "What's so funny?" I took the mask off to look at the face which made me wrinkle my face in disgust. It was _hideous!_ A large, pointy, bird-like noise bulged out and a drooping frown stretched down the bottom. To make it worse, it was painted a sickly green color.

"Yep! That _definitely_ suits _you!_" Lloyd had tears running down his face as he hunched over, clutching his stomach. Bobby was on the floor, slapping the ground with his skeleton-white hands, as he cackled at our friend's side.

I fumed, my eyes glaring and my cheeks puffing out slightly. Using my mask, I smacked them, making them both shut up. "Then let's see you put _yours_ on!" The two looked at each other with straight faces for a moment, then did so.

Lloyd's was as red as his costume and devil horns stuck up from the top while a wicked grin stretched across the surface; pointy, yellow, sinister teeth bore. My foot was tapping as my arms were folded. _Yep. That _definitely_ fitted _him. Bobby, on the other hand, I could not take seriously and I snorted a little behind my hand. His mask was a perfect, white circle with yellow teeth tightly pressed together to form a smile.

"All right." I admitted. "So they all fit us." My gaze drifted to Bobby. "Although, it's hard to believe a _fat_ skeleton." A smirk came to my face

He took off his mask. "Hey. _Sorry I enjoy my sweets!_ You _kinda_ had me die just when the amount of sweets was to fill my wildest dreams."

I looked down. He had died on Christmas Eve. We _all_ had. "Wasn't my fault you couldn't move off the ice in time."

"And look who was blaming _me_ earlier!" He stuck out his tongue and I made an 'oh-shut-up' face in reply.

"Well, if it's sweets you like, we got plenty!" Jack chimed in and took out a black- and orange-swirled lollipop.

"Ooh!" Bobby gaped, clapping his hands, "Gimme!" He jumped for it, but flopped flat on his face when Jack lifted it just above his reach.

"Ah, ah, ah." He slowly waged a finger. "If you want your lollipop, you _all _have to behave yourselves." He addressed us all. "Isn't that right, Zero?" The skeleton smiled to the ghost dog beside him, which barked.

"But, if this is a town of Halloween, shouldn't there be _tricks_ as _well_ as treats?" I challenged with a smile as I leaned forward with my arms folded.

The tall bone man laughed. "I suppose you're right!" He got on one knee to get down to our level. "Now, then," he suddenly looked at Bobby, who snickered as he had snatched the candy and ran around a tomb to stand behind Lloyd and I, "I do believe you have failed to tell me your names."

The three of us looked at each other. If I knew my friends, they, like I, would not want to use the same names they were born with—that they lived through hell with. This, here, was our rebirth and we thought it would only be appropriate to pick names that better suited _us._ We smirked, as if from reading each other's' minds when we came to our decisions.

"Ah, and that you are right about, Jack." I giggled.

"Lock."

"Shock."

"Barrel."

We introduced ourselves as we placed the masks over our faces. Jack smiled.

**There's the infamous trio we all know and love! Sorry it took so long, guys. Really hoped to post it in the beginning of April, before my spring break, but stuff kept coming up. Anyway, better late than never! I hope you guys enjoyed, and please Review! **

**Just to explain how the names better suit them and to recap:**

**Shock—electrocuted herself to death**

**Lock—was frozen from being under the snow**

**Barrel—the waves plowed into him making him drown**


	3. Chapter 3

**So sorry for the delay you guys, but I was having such bad computer problems. Anyway, I've finally got it back, so here ya go!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas**

_**In This Town, We Call Home**_

_**Shock's POV**_

Barrel, Lock, and I looked around as Jack lead us into town. Everyone around us was decked out to the max for Halloween. "Wow," I commented, "everyone sure goes hog-wild for this holiday."

"But, of course!" Jack exclaimed, extending his long, lanky arms and looking back at me. "It's the most _important_ holiday of them all!"

"Not like Easter." Barrel muttered under his breath to Lock and me. The three of us stopped when we ran into Jack's leg. He had come to a halt and turned around to look at us.

"What was that?" I couldn't help, but notice a hint of an edge to his typically friendly tone. "How is _any_ other holiday more important than _this_ one? And what is this _'Easter'_ you speak of, anyway?"

"Well, we get tons of chocolate eggs and chocolate bunnies and get to go Easter egg hunting!" Barrel said sticking his tongue out and clutching his black-and-orange-swirled lollipop.

"Ah," Jack held up a finger while his other hand rested on his tiny pelvis, "but can you pull tricks and get away with it?"

"No." He replied looking down.

I smacked him on the back of the head with my mask. "Idiot." Barrel just gave me a look in reply.

"Jack! Jack! How do these bats seem?" A vampire asked as bats hung from his sleeves, and my two friends and I looked around with a start. "Are they mature enough to let go?"

"Are these eyeballs ripe yet?" Asked a ghoul. "I just plucked them." It then dawned on me: there was a vast number of civilians crowding around us now.

Jack's head turned left and right while he tried to answer everyone's questions. They were offering a multitude of objects waiting for approval. Barrel, Lock, and I looked around, trying to find a way out—because the last time we were in a crowd, it was a amongst group of people who hated us. We made it to the edge of ghouls, mummies, vampires, etc. and cried out as we tripped and fell backwards on top of each other.

"Ow, ow, ow!" I whined, trying to roll off of them. "Get off, get off, get off, get off!"

"Who are you telling to get off of _you?!_" Lock snapped from the bottom of the dog pile.

"Yeah, you're the one who's crushing _us!_" Barrel glared, wiggling around.

"Shut up!" I retorted, still not making any progress in sorting out our situation.

"Oh! Here let me help you!" A pair of small, gentle hands lifted me up and placed me on the ground before helping Barrel and Lock to their feet. My eyes were captivated by the person and my two fellow mischief-makers soon followed my gaze, unsure as to why I was so awe-stricken.

The one who came to our aid stared down at us with large, round eyes and long eyelashes that fluttered as she blinked. A stitched smile stretched across her spherical, pale face and a pair of rosy red lips curled upward in a slightly crooked smile upon the sight of the three of us. She was kneeing in front of us and her long, straight, red hair reached her lower back. She wore a very dull-colored dress consisting of large patches stitched together. What's more, there were stitches almost _everywhere_ on her body! In literal terms: she was a living rag doll.

"Are you okay?" She asked us sweetly, but the three of us were still too dumbfounded to answer.

"Sally!" She gasped and got up, "I'll see you three later." Giving us those whispered parting words, she slinked away to the grey, stone wall beside us as an old, bald man, with tiny, black glasses and dressed in a white lab coat, rolled up to us in a wheelchair. "Hm." He snarled as he looked around, and we flinched into reality when his hidden eyes made their way towards us. "Have you three seen a doll wandering around here?"

"Uh . . . uh-uh." I replied shaking my head, while my friends hid behind me.

He snorted and wheeled away.

"What was that about?" Lock asked walking out ,along with our rotund, little friend.

"Beats me." Barrel replied.

"Things sure are strange here." I commented, raising an eyebrow and folding my arms.

"Indeed they are, little missy! Ahahaha!" The three of us jumped and cried out when a large, beige sack started cracking up next to us. "So, where you from?" He asked, leaning down closer once he had calmed down, and put his fat arms on his hips. "Don't think I've seen you 'round here before."

"Oogie!" We all looked up to see Jack storming over, and by the look on his face, it was clear he was not a big fan of this guy.

"Jack! So good of you to answer all of your people's questions for next Halloween." The sack mocked.

"Enough of your commentary, Oogie. I don't want you around these kids."

"Aw, why's that? I was only asking where they were from, is all."

"We're from the living world!" Barrel answered behind his mask and holding up his lollipop.

Oogie stared at him for a moment before going hysterical again with laughter, making us cringe together and Barrel hold his sweet treat close to him. "Did'ja hear that everybody?" Oogie boomed loudly in the center of the square, "These kids are from the _world of the living!_ Ahahahaha!"

My friends and I looked around as the civilians started to form another circle around us.

"Really?" A werewolf growled.

"How is it?"

"You mean you actually _lived_ there?"

"We've only been there on Halloween Night!"

"Except those who have a full-time job there." A creature with fingers like snakes and spiders in his hair added.

"Agreed." Said a monster with teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red.

Lock, Barrel, and I looked at each other, our faces hidden by our masks. Then, I looked back at the fast accumulated mob. "W-we didn't like it all that much."

"Yeah," Lock said waving his arm in front of him dismissively, "Nothin' to see there!"

"Except for us." The sharp-toothed red-eyed creature snickered along with his pals surrounding him.

"Well, I'm sure we'll all have the chance to question them more on their old home at another time." Jack interjected as he began to gently push the three of us out of the crowd. "But, these kids are tired, I'm sure. We best be off! Carry on with the good work, everyone!"

The next thing we knew, we were inside a house and Jack slammed the front door shut before sliding down against it. He sighed with his eyes closed once he hit the floor, and he rubbed his head with a bony hand, his elbow propped up against one knee.

"Well, that was hectic." I said behind my sickly-green witch's mask.

"Halloween's never been _that_ crazy back at home!" Barrel mentioned, taking off his skull one.

"Sure doesn't seem like Jack's not used to it, though." Lock added.

The three of us looked at the tall, lanky man who just sat there shaking his head, his eyes still closed. "It's always like this. Every year."

Zero slowly drifted down the stairs, barking at his master with concern.

"You sure don't seem well, Jack." I commented.

"Huh?" He replied looking up at last, then he flinched. "Oh, my word! Where are my manners? You all must be _starving!_ Let me get you something to eat." And without another moment's hesitation, the skeleton was up and darting under his stairwell to the tiny kitchen in the back of his tall, large house.

Barrel, Lock, and I followed him, stunned at his sudden mood change. We sat at the black-wooden table and, a moment later, Jack placed three bowls of steaming hot, foul-looking mush in front of us.

"Dig right in!" He claimed proudly.

My friends and I looked at each other with a questioning glance and a raising of our eyebrows, before we leaned forward to smell the stuff.

Barrel immediately slapped his hands over his nose and leaned back as far as possible, his eyes tearing. "Bleck! That smells _disgusting!_"

"I second that!" I said with my eyes shut tight as I fanned the stench with my hat. "Peeyu!"

"Well, don't blow it in _my_ direction!" Lock interjected holding his nose and fanning with his pale hand.

"Come on, now." Jack said with his hands on his hips and Zero beside him. "How do you know you don't like it, if you've never tried it?"

The three of us stopped and dismally looked at one another. Lock and I had never been asked that typical parenting question—I mean do you recall our childhoods?—and looked at Barrel who sadly stared at his food; and we took that experience away from Barrel when the accident occurred.

Our rotund skeleton friend lifted the spoon and scooped up a mouthful. We watched with baited breath for his response and his eyes widened. "Oh, wow!" He cried and looked at Jack. "That's really good!

"Great!" He answered, swinging his arm as he made a fist. "I _knew_ it! Now, it's up to you guys."

Lock and I glanced t each other while Barrel began wolfing down the steaming hot mush.

"Bon appetite, I guess." I said as I slightly wrinkled my nose and spooned the food into my mouth. My eyes popped open as well and I smiled. "Wow! That _is_ really good!" I proceeded to put spoonful after spoonful in my mouth.

"You're both crazy." Lock muttered as he started us judgingly, before he put some dinner in his own mouth. Barrel and I waited and we saw his eyes widen as well, but he just _had_ to play it cool and he closed his eyes. "It's all right."

"Oh, come on!" I exclaimed as I shoved him. "You know it's good. Just admit it!"

"Bleh!" He stuck out his tongue.

After we had finished eating, Jack showed us upstairs. "You can sleep here for now, if you'd like."

"Why's that?" I asked, my friends close behind me as they looked around the circular room. We spotted an impressively long bed in front of the fireplace and could only conclude it belonged to the friendly skeleton.

"Because, you haven't anywhere else to go. Isn't that correct?"

"He does have a point there, Shock." Lock admitted.

"Sh!" I hissed.

"Thank you for your kindness." Barrel said quietly, remembering the opposing behavior we received prior to our new lives.

"Not at all, you three!" Jack beamed brightly. "It's my pleasure!" Zero barked in agreement.

"So, where would we sleep?" Our five-year-old friend wondered.

Jack patted a moderately-sized basket by the window. "Right here!" He placed a hand over his chest. "I truly do apologize for not having anything better, but Zero and I weren't expecting such _wonderful_ guests!" His ghost dog barked in reply before making a bee-line between us and drifting to Jack's side once more. "I _do_ have some spare blankets. Let me go fetch them for you." And just like that, he strode down his spiraled staircase.

"How is it we got such a stranger to take us in so suddenly?" I asked as we made our way over to our bed and climbed in.

Barrel had some difficulty and got stuck on his belly. Trying to avoid his swinging legs, I gave him a gentle nudge, before joining him with Lock beside me.

"You're really going to question it?" Our tubby friend said.

"Well, _you_ had it good. . ." I looked at my lap. "Lock and I were abandoned years ago."

Barrel leaned forward slightly to look at Lock's and my dismal, downward gazes. "But, you're not now." He smiled, reassuringly. "You've got Jack and Zero. And me! Plus, we met that really nice lady in the square!"

"What lady?" We looked up to see Jack returning with blankets in his long arms.

"She helped us when that crowd surrounded you earlier today."

"Did she now?" He asked as he started to lay down the sheets. "Do you know what her name was?"

"Um. . ." I put a finger on my chin as I looked up in thought. "I think the man in the lab coat looking for her said her name was Sally."

"Sally?" We jumped at the sudden up-beat tone in his voice. "She's a _wonderful_ person!"

"Do you like her?" Barrel asked.

"What? Me? Oh ho! No. I don't have time for relationships. What with being the Pumpkin King and all-"

"The what?!" We all interjected. "You mean . . . Pumpkin King as in . . . the _King_ of Halloween?!" The three of us had climbed out from under the blankets and began to press towards Jack.

"Yes." He said cautiously as he held up his hands.

"_That_ was why everyone in town was asking your opinion and everything!" I pointed out.

"That's _incredible!_" Lock said jumping up and down. "Halloween's our most favorite holiday ever!"

"_Really_ now. " He straightened himself and put his hands on his hips. "Because, _I_ recall someone saying they liked this apparent _'Easter'_ better." He gave a playfully scolding smile over to Barrel.

"Hey, I said it wasn't as _important_ as Halloween!"

Jack chuckled for a bit. "Well," he finally said with a sigh, "it's been a long day for all of you, so let's get you all nice and comfy." We slinked our way back into the bed and he tucked us in. "Zero's bed is right over there, so pardon if he decides to curl up with you guys."

"Eh, it's not like we'll notice him if he does." Lock commented causing Zero to whine and drop his ears.

"That's mean!" I smacked my slicked-haired friend, and giving the jack-lantern-nosed ghost dog a smile. "Zero, you're welcome with us anytime." Zero, then, barked and flipped before floating over and lying right on top of my legs. He just felt like a load of air on my lap, but I didn't really care.

I began to make an attempt in petting him and giggled. Strange. That hasn't happened since . . . Wow. . . . When _was_ the last time I giggled? And _honestly_ meant it?

"Well, goodnight you three." Jack smiled before patting each of us on the head. "Let me take your hat, Shock." I lifted my head off of the large, long, pillow propped up against the side of the basket. The bone man, then, nicely placed my purple hat on the table at the foot of our small bed. "I'll be right over here, if you need anything."

After an acknowledging nod, none of us said anything else for a while. The moon was high and the distant sounds of the werewolf could be heard. Familiar noises sounded from the outside, as well: an owl hooting and the wind whistling through the bare trees. It brought back memories of home, which were a mix of good and bad. But, the more I thought about it, it was mostly bad.

I gazed at the high ceiling. "This feels so weird." I whispered from my position between the two.

"What does?" Barrel whispered back as to not wake Jack or Zero, who was now sound asleep on our my lap.

"Just this overall thing. . . One minute we're dying and the next, we're reborn into this strange, new world."

"But, think about it." Lock said, turning to look at me. "Would you really change any of it?"

"Not at all." I looked at my lap and began to count on my gloved fingers. "We're accepted. Living new lives. Given an actual home. Living in a world of our most favorite holiday." I looked at Barrel with a slight smirk. "_Not_ Easter."

"Aw, c'mon!" He folded his arms and pressed his blue lips together as he looked out the window to his left. "I've got a feeling you guys are _not_ going to let that go, even though that wasn't even what I said."

Lock and I snickered.

"And there's another thing." I added and smiled. "We're actually happy. . . _Genuinely_ happy. " I looked at my friends beside me. "Not having to worry about getting into trouble or anything. I can't remember the last time any of us had an opportunity like that. Here, we can just be _us._ Like we had been in the world of the living: genuine pranksters who love nothing but some good ol' fashion fun."

Lock and Barrel's blue lips curled upward and their eyes seemed to shine slightly.

"Yeah." My devilish seven-year-old friend agreed. "You're right."

He took my hand as did Barrel a moment after. "Here, in this town we call home." We all quietly chorused together as the bright moon shed its white light upon us through the windows of the home of the Pumpkin King.

**Gotta say I really liked how this chapter came together at the end. Hope you all enjoyed it, too! Please Review and I'll see you next time. ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas **

_**Oogie Boogie**_

_**Shock's POV**_

Barrel, Lock, and I scampered around town, taking in all of the joy the citizens were expressing as they made their preparations.

"This is so cool!" Barrel exclaimed as he jumped up and down, his lollipop clutched tightly in his little white hand.

"You're still not done with that thing?" I asked with my arms folded.

"Nope!" He replied shaking his head with a wide, proud grin. "You guys know me; I don't finish a treat for weeks!"

"And it's still as disgusting as the first time you told us." Lock grimaced as he rolled his eyes, earning a glare and a growl from our tubby friend.

Barrel stumbled into a large ghoul and fell back. After Lock and I helped him up, we raised our eyes to gasp.

"Oogie Boogie." The three of us whispered.

"Who dares run into me?" He growled as he turned around only to look down at us; we must have appeared as ants to him. "Ah, so it's _you three_ again." He smirked before letting out a chuckle. "What brings you goons into town today?"

"We just wanted to look around." Barrel admitted nervously after he had put on his mask. "W-we're new here."

Lock and I slapped his arm with our masks and he put a hand on it as he looked at us harshly. "You idiot!" I hissed as quietly as I could. "We shouldn't be talking to this guy! Jack did not seem as though he wanted us around him!"

"But, did we ever take a moment to wonder _why?_" My devilish friend challenged behind his mask.

I looked at him for a bit. He was right . . . Jack never _did_ tell us why he didn't like Oogie Boogie.

After another pause, I put my mask on and looked at the large beige sack. "Say, Jack doesn't seem to like you very much. Why is that?"

"Ouch." Lock commented, his smug grin was hidden, but his yellow eyes glinted with the sun peeping through the grey haze. "That was blunt."

Oogie glared down at me, the ends of his arms—I doubt I could call them hands—rested on his hips. "Well, well, well. Looks like the little missy has a bit of curiosity in her tiny ant-like body."

My face of disapproval was concealed by my mask, but I'm certain he was able to see my eyes narrow; my stomach churned uneasily when he narrowed his own eye sockets

"If you children _really_ want to know, why don't you stop by my lovely little home?"

He began to chuckle again and I backed up so that I was standing in line with Barrel and Lock. Uncomfortable in our current situation, I clasped my hands in front of my chest.

"What should we do?" Lock asked on my left.

"Should we listen to him?" Barrel leaned forward to look at him.

"I don't think Jack would be very pleased."

"We certainly don't want to upset him when he took us in and fed us." Barrel pointed out.

While they talked across me, I looked down in thought and they finally looked at me. "Shock?" My slick back-haired friend asked.

I was quiet for a few moments until I raised my head. "Let's go."

"What?" Barrel's eyes widened. "Are you _crazy?_ You'd all of a sudden go against Jack like this?"

I grabbed his ear and he winced as I pulled him closer. "I just want to know why Jack doesn't like this guy. That's all." I whispered.

"Hm. . ." He replied, clearing not a fan of my idea.

I released his ear and met Oogie's empty eye sockets. "All right Show us the way."

He snickered again. "Very well." His smile widened a little more. "My little cockroaches."

We followed behind him and, as we did, received countless looks from the ghouls around us. Now that I thought about it, I'm sure they still had questions regarding our past lives. Thanks to Oogie blabbing out our background, the three of us knew we wouldn't be safe from their curiosity for a quite bit.

"They're all looking at us." Barrel said as he held his treat close, as if someone was going to snatch it.

_Who would want _that _gross, disgusting thing?_ My large nose wrinkled as I grimaced, then I remembered where I was. _Never mind._

"Don't pay them any attention." I answered. "They still don't know exactly who we are."

"Well, I'm sure we'll change their minds about that soon enough." Lock added.

I looked at him. "What do you mean by that?"

He removed his mask and shrugged. "For better, or for worse. Know what I mean?" Sending me an oblique sharp-toothed grin, he put his mask back on while I stared at him. I didn't like the look on his face.

Soon, we had made it out of town and onto a hill. Oogie stopped at its peak and we followed his lead. "Home sweet home!" He cried as he outstretched his arms. His booming voice echoed across the vacant horizon of hills and patches of dead trees.

After looking at him, the three of us gazed down to see a crooked, old tree emerging from a ditch filled with fog. On the branches, were rickety, little buildings. We looked to our left to see the spiral hill that stood among the graveyard.

Our attention returned to Oogie, who folded his arms and looked down at us with a raised eyebrow. "Are you kids ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be." Barrel said with uncertainty.

"Ahaha! Then, let's go!"

Lock, Barrel, and I followed him as he sloppy sauntered down the hill and over to the edge of the pit. While he began his descend on a fat tree branch, with lumps that served as stairs, we looked down; Lock stood on my right and Barrel on my left. The ground crumbled a little under our green-haired friend's feet and he began waving his arms to regain his balance, before I steadied him.

He looked at me, then lowered his eyes to the fog below. "Sure is a long way down."

"You got that right." I replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lock asked, removing his mask as his tail wagged. "Come on!" After giving a wave of his arm, we followed his lead down the tree Oogie had used.

"I don't know if I like this very much!" I grunted as I hopped from lump to lump, trying my best to keep my balance.

"Aw, you're just saying that 'cause you're scared." Lock answered from a short distance away from me. "You always were the scaredy-cat out of the three of us back on the mainland."

"The mainland?" Barrel asked once he had landed on the next perch, but I bumped into him.

"Hey, don't just stop in the middle!" I snapped as I sat on my butt, my mask lying beside me.

"Well, watch where you're going!" He retorted.

I launched myself at him and knocked his mask off. He kicked his short legs in an attempt to fight back, but I was bigger than him.

"Hey, knock it off!" Lock ordered, clearly irritated, and he smacked us with his mask. "Have you forgotten why we're here?" He turned back to Barrel. "Anyway, I'm gonna refer up there"—he pointed to the grey, dismal sky—"to the mainland. Feels kind of weird calling it the 'world of the living'."

I nodded. "Yeah, I agree with you on that."

"Uh oh, y-you guys?"

We turned our heads at Barrel's sudden tone. He was staring over the edge of the tree we were on, when we followed his gaze, we saw nothing but fog.

"I got this feeling that he's gonna be mad at us."

Now that he brought it up, we _had_ been staying in one place for quite a while, and were already way far behind when we first began our descent. "You're right." I said. "Let's go." I lead them down this time.

When, we finally made it to the end of the tree, we looked around to see that the pit was still ongoing. "Jeez." Barrel commented behind his mask as he knelt on the rough surface. "Just how deep is this thing?"

"Oh, you haven't even reached the half-way point."

The three of us looked up to see Oogie staring at us, with his arms folded, from behind a circular window carved into the thick, black tree that stuck up from the ditch. Suddenly, he lashed his arms forwarded and we screamed as a pair of skeleton arms emerged from behind him, grabbed us, and hauled us forward into darkness.

After a short while, a light turned on overhead, illuminating our situation: the three of us were without masks and were tied together by a rope that hung from a hook suspended from far above. We started squirming to free our arms, but stopped when Oogie began laughing and emerged from the shadows in front of us.

"What is the meaning of this, Oogie?" I demanded.

"Yeah!" Barrel chimed in, swinging us slightly as he kicked his stubby legs. "Why're we all tied up?"

"Can't go thinking you won't tell Jack all I'm telling _you,_ now can I?"

"What's the big deal about that?" Lock insisted. "If it's the reason why he _hates_ you, then _obviously_ he _knows!_"

"Save your breath." I sighed. "There's no point in arguing with a useless. Old. Empty. Sack!" I tilted my head back and forth while I grinned and leaned forward with each insult. Feeling satisfied and thinking he would let us go, I just stared him down. Wow, could I have been more wrong?

Oogie started laughing hysterically, before slamming his arm down on something. We were abruptly dropped and the room around us lit up with gambling machines and other objects you would find in a casino. Then, just as suddenly as we were dropped, we came to a jolting halt a mere couple of feet above a strange type of torture device in the center of some orange fluid.

Hearts racing and throbbing, eyes wide as anything, we looked up at Oogie who wobbled over to us. "Just in case this doesn't drive home the message, I don't kid around. And, then there's another thing." His eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't want to know what makes me, me, my cockroaches."

"Hey, what gives?" Lock snarls. "You did it before, since when did we become your 'cockroaches'?"

"When you agreed in taking my offer." He grinned widely.

"Lock, sh! Shut up!" I hissed and my friend growled at the ghoul before us. "Look," I said to him, "could you just tell us why Jack doesn't like you, so we can get out of here and leave you on your merry way?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Oogie chuckled with his arms folded as he paced in front of us briefly. "I'll tell you."

Lock, Barrel, and I, still tied up as we were, waited, watched, and listened silently.

"'Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems, in a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams. For the story that you are about to be told, took place in the Holiday Worlds of old. There was a skeleton, and a sack. While other ghouls ventured out, one monster stayed back. He was the King of Halloween, while the other worked long nights making all sorts of children scream.

"This creature lurked under beds worldwide, but the King forced him to come back to hide. You see, the King was disappointed in how much better the other was. However, that was simply only because the other creature was better, even without the use of claws. The King had gotten jealous. The King had gotten mad. And when the King told the other to stay, the creature had gotten sad.

"He truly loved doing what he was gifted to do. To creep up on children in the night and yell 'boo'!" Oogie got in our faces and made us jump.

"That's all the creature wanted to do," his saddened eye sockets narrowed with rage, "but, the Halloween King took the privilege from him, too. He had told the creature 'no one is allowed to surpass me!' And he sentenced him to stay, locked up here in this tree. But a mere order, such as this, couldn't keep the creature in. He gambled with critters and other ghouls, and they lost with a spin.

"You see, the creature bet them 'if you lose, you stay here. You stay here and help me make the Skeleton King fear.' The ghouls then started constructing the right time to strike. And finally, it came on this one Halloween night! The citizens were gathering in the center of town, and their celebratory cheers turned into frowns.

"For the ground wildly shook, and the Pumpkin King turned around to look! At the creature oh, so proud as he came up from the ground! 'Hey!' He shouted. 'Long time no see!' The Halloween King grew mad within the count of three. 'Oogie!' He said. 'Come over here now, so I can get some sense into your head!' 'But, no!' Cried the creature, 'You've had your last laugh!' And he swung at the stick man, wanting to use him for a staff.

"And so, here's our story, coming close to an end. It's hard to believe the two ghouls were once friends. But, it all changed thanks to that _Skeleton Man._ Because of him, alone the one creature stands. Oh ho," Oogie mocked sadly as he hugged himself, "the ghouls don't comfort him. They only follow the orders they were once given. But, the Boogie Man is of his word and won't tell them to do otherwise. The ghouls will always follow him and his word like flies. And, thus, ends our tale of this sorrowful sack. Who just awaits the day when everything will be back."

Barrel, Lock, and I stared at him for a while in silence. Oogie Boogie slouched sadly, and I could almost feel . . . _sorry_ for him.

"You mean," I said, "the reason Jack doesn't like you is because you did a better job at scaring people than him?"

He nodded, his stitched lip quivering.

"Well, that's stupid!" I snarled. "Sounds something that Barrel, Lock, and I would fight about!"

"Hey!" They chorused.

"Oh, shut up you know it's true!"

Oogie sniffled and wiped his face, where his nose would be, with his arm. "You mean, you're on my side? You see why Jack doesn't like me?"

I nodded. "And it is the _dumbest_ reason I've ever heard! It's immature and childish!" I looked down and narrowed my eyes. "I can't believe we thought so highly of the King of Halloween, when he isn't even able to appreciate one of his citizen's big achievements." I growled under my breath.

Oogie had his arms folded. "The reason he said he didn't want me near you guys was because he feared you'd discover the truth and leave him after he welcomed you in the graveyard."

"You know about that?" Barrel asked and Oogie laughed.

"I have eyes all over this town!" He looked at us with a serious expression, once he had calmed down. "Well, I may as well tell you what's inside of me, now that I've revealed _this_ much to you!" The tip of his head split and a spider crawled out while bug eyes began to glow purple in his eye sockets. The three of us flinched. "You see, my little cockroaches," a yellow-and black-stripped snake came out his mouth and poked my nose making a shiver run up my spine, "I'm entirely made out of bugs and critters."

We stared at him in surprise and he pulled back to laugh again. Well, that explains why he's call Oogie_ Boogie_. . .

"So," he eyed me once we could no longer see his insides, "who did you say was a useless, old, empty sack?"

I bowed my head and Lock looked at me, as if telling me he wanted to pat my back in support. But, alas, our current predicament prevented him from such an action.

"So, how 'bout you let us go, now?" Barrel said, a hint of confidence in his tone.

"Ah, but how do I know you won't go running back to Jack and tell him you were just talking to me _willingly?_ For all I know, you could add your own _mischievous,_ little twist to my story."

"Trust us," Barrel said—my head was bowed again and my hat's rim hid my face, "when Shock is frustrated, she'll _rarely_ speak for quite a while. Ow!" He cried when I kicked his shin.

"Well, my dear?" Oogie said as he got close to my face. I looked up and the spider came out the top of his head again, "Whataya say?"

I stared at him for a few moment, before answering, "Yeah. We'll behave." Behind my back, I crossed my fingers. I had to tell Jack that the way he acted towards Oogie was stupid and not right for a king. Lock and Barrel noticed my movement and gasped, but I held my gaze on Oogie.

"Excellent!"

And just like that, we were off the hook. Literally. The rope around us was ripped off and we braced ourselves to fall into the strange orange fluid, only to be met with hard ground. The sack man pulled a switch, making the hook turn so we would not fall into that strange liquid.

"I've held up my end of the bargain, and you've held up yours. You're free to go."

"Wait!" Barrel teetered up to him. "What happens when the bugs inside of you die?"

"I try to find more. Bugs are a great source of protein! But, in my state," he rubbed his belly, "it's pretty hard to hunt."

Barrel looked away and I watched him carefully. I knew that look. What was he thinking . . .?

"What if _we_ got bugs for you?"

My jaw and Lock's dropped.

"What?" Oogie said with suspicion and he leaned forward with his hands on his hips. "And exactly _why_ would you do that for me?"

"Well, because you were kind enough to tell us why Jack doesn't like you." He put his arms behind his back and began tracing circles on the ground with his flat, white foot. "He wouldn't tell us, even if we asked. . . I've got a feeling he wouldn't. Besides, we could keep you company, so you aren't just stuck with these ghouls!"

No one said anything for a few moments after that. Never did I ever expect Barrel to come up with an offer such as that. It was completely beside him! But, with the new upside down world we live in now, I guess things have to change. I looked down, rethinking my former motive if I should talk to Jack about this, or not. Shaking my head, I lifted my eyes. No. That is something I, for sure, needed closure on.

I was brought back to reality when Oogie smiled and stretched out his arm. "You've got yourselves a deal."

"What, you're not gonna gamble with us?" Lock smirked, his tail wagging a little bit.

"Ha! I know for sure I'd win to a bunch of kids. It wouldn't be fair."

"Well, it's comforting to know you think so little of us." He answered with a mischievous grin as he approached Barrel's side. "Gives us the goal to surprise you one of these days."

This just left me to walk up to my friends. They were set to make the agreement. Was I?

**Cliffhanger! Haven't had one of these in my writings for a while! See you guys next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Christmas **

_**Jack Skellington, and Trying Trust**_

_**Shock's POV**_

"Well, it's comforting to know you think so little of us." Lock said as he approached Barrel's flank. "Gives us the goal to surprise you one of these days."

My friends stood in front of the beige sack man, who was more than ready to seal our little agreement: he had told us information Jack failed to even hint at, and as payment, Barrel suggested we catch bugs to sustain the Boogie Man. The towering ghoul eyed me, and my friends turned their heads.

"Shock?"

I gazed at the ground, then lifted my eyes to meet them. "I'll do it." I said with a nod and walked up to them.

"Fantastic." Oogie chuckled. "Now, if you don't mind, maybe you little cockroaches could get me a little pick-me-up right now?"

"Fine." I snapped slightly, "But, we're leaving after this." I shifted my eyes around his little casino-styled lair. "I'm not too fond of being underground for so long."

"You got it!"

The three of us wandered off while the Boogie Man did his own thing. Barrel and I followed behind Lock as we looked around. "I'm not seeing anything." Our slicked-haired friend said.

"No duh." I replied, still glancing over the area. "How 'bout you, Bar-" I was cut off when I had turned to see him placing his lollipop in a cage. I rolled my eyes. "You idiot, do you honestly think there's anything here to-"

"Sh!" He hissed as he waved at us from his position behind a box.

Lock and I looked at each other before hiding as well. Peaking out, we waited until a small grasshopper scurried here and there, until finally making its way close to the trap.

"Well, I'll be." Lock whispered as his and my eyes widened in surprise. "Didn't expect _Barrel_ to get the first catch."

"Didn't expect _Barrel_ to give Mr. Oogie Boogie the offer of us doing this in the first place!" I hissed to him.

"Sh!" Barrel whispered again.

We turned our heads when we heard the light clanking of legs on the metal, followed by a slam and a cry in shock.

Barrel climbed on top of the box, lifted the cage and removed his lollipop through the bars. "Dinner is served." He said proudly before giving his black and orange treat a lick.

"Wow." Lock said as we approached him. "I'm impressed."

"We didn't think you had it in you." I smirked.

He chuckled. "Well, not everything is as it seems."

That reminded me of what I had to do back in town. "Come on guys, let's give this to Mr. Oogie Boogie and head back to Jack's."

With a nod, we all did so.

"Ooh!" The sack man cooed when he saw the three us approach him, the large cage in Barrel's arms. The large ghoul smacked his lips and rubbed the ends of his arms together as we placed the prey on the gambling table in between him and the three of us.

"Freshly caught by yours truly!" Our tubby friend boasted with his hands on his fat hips. Lock and I rolled our eyes.

"I knew I hired the right henchmen for the job!"

"Henchmen?" I flinched and hopped onto the table to get up close and personal with this ghoul. "Now, listen here." I ordered, pointing at him closely. "I just agreed to help _feed_ you, as did my friends. By _no means_ did we agree to do any other kind of _'service'_ for you."

"Shock, keep it down." Lock whispered warily, slightly afraid of what Oogie Boogie might do to us.

No. I needed to speak my mind.

"Y-yeah, Shock." Barrel's voice shook slightly as he cowered, too. "N-now's not the time for you to b-be brave. Thing's're different here. . ."

Snarling, I straightened up and held my glare. "Enjoy your meal, Mr. _Oogie Boogie._"

Hopping down, Barrel and I followed Lock out of the lair. However, as we did so, chills crawled up my spine when I overheard Oogie a distance away from us.

"Hm." He pondered with a smile. "_Mr._ Oogie Boogie, hahahaha, I can get use to the sound of that."

Shuddering, I continued onward with my friends. There was only one problem, though . . .

"Hey, does anyone know how to get out of here?" Barrel asked and we all stopped.

"No." Lock admitted, biting his lip and looking down.

He and I looked up at the light from the outside emanating a long distance above. "Surely, there must be _some_ way." He deducted as he marched around our surrounding area.

"Well, _obviously_ there's one," I retorted, "if Mr. Oogie Boogie is able to make his way into town." Though, part of me dismally thought he just appeared via the shadows. If that was the case, we lacked _that_ ability.

Lock gave me a look before looking around some more.

"Hey, that reminds me." Barrel said, "Since when did you start calling him that?"

"I don't know!" I snapped, "Now, shut up and help us look!" After saying that, I huffed away into a dark tunnel. Hugging myself, I was alone with my thoughts.

_I don't know why I started calling the ghoul that. . . _I kept _telling_ myself that, but deep down I _knew_. Deep, deep down, there was a part of me that actually wanted to _stay_ with the sack man. It was almost like Jack's reluctance to give us an answer, regarding his relationship with Oogie, completely severed my respect and trust for the Pumpkin King.

I sighed. _Hopefully my talk with Jack will sort all of this out._

Then, I bumped into something. "Huh?" I could barely see through the darkness, but I reached in front of me and felt a mysterious item. Processing it for a moment, my eyes widened when I found out what it was. "Lock, Barrel! There's a rope ladder over here!"

"We're coming!" I heard my tubby friend's voice echo as I faintly made out his and Lock's feet quickly padding their way over to me.

"Shock, where are you?" Lock called.

"Over here, you idiot, just follow my voice!"

"Yeah, how could we miss it?" He muttered.

"I heard that."

Finally, I could make out their bodies as they zeroed in on me. "It's right in front of me. I'll head up first, but be careful."

Their silence indicated a nod in response and, one by one, we began our ascent.

It was a difficult climb, and there were a few moments when one of us would slip and the other two would cling for dear life, or, help the other. Not like it really _mattered_ if we fell. I mean, I still can't believe we're living our _after_life. However, dismissing that thought, we finally made it to the top and climbed our way back onto the beautiful, grey earth of Halloween Town. Only, we weren't necessarily in the town.

"Where are we?" Barrel asked as we scanned the area.

"Hm." I said, then looked up and a sinking feeling made its way inside of me. "Right outside of Mr. Oogie Boogie's place. Quick, let's get out of here."

We scurried our way back into town, not stopping to answer questions or the like, and pressed onward to Jack's home. We closed the tall gates behind us, to separate the excited townspeople, before scurrying up the stairs to the front door, and going inside.

"Zero! Jack?" We called as we ran up the spiral staircase. However, when we made it to Jack's room, we did not find the skeleton man; only Zero.

He barked and darted over towards Lock, Barrel, and me to greet us warmly as he spun around and weaved between us. We laughed as he did so.

"Zero, do you know where Jack is?" Lock questioned.

He barked a few times, then looked out the window.

"Will it be later?" Barrel asked and the dog barked once more.

"Guess that answers our question." I said with defeat as I plopped down on the floor. Zero could hint I wasn't feeling so up to it, so he pressed his cold, vacant body up to mine. "Thanks, Zero." I smiled and attempted to pet his head.

"Well, what do we do now?" Barrel wondered.

"Do you want to deal with the townspeople's questions?" Lock challenged, earning a frantic head shake, "Then I suggest we stay put here, until Jack comes home." And that we did.

We waited hours, and barely did anything at all but stare up at the tall ceiling. Finally, after a whole lot of nothing, we heard the front door open and close.

"Zero, I'm home!" A few moments later, we all sat up quickly as the Pumpkin King made his way up the stairs. It's rather safe to say he was not expecting to see the three of us standing in line, and our arms folded. "Well, hey kids." He said, a hand on his pelvis, and the other rubbing his skull. "Where have you been?"

"We need answers, Jack." I demanded and he flinched.

"Excuse me? Answers for what?"

Here we go. I took a breath and exhaled.

"Why didn't you tell us you hated Oogie Boogie so much?" I flinched and glared at Barrel. "Sorry." He said to me.

"Whatever do you mean?" Jack almost chuckled.

"Admit it," Lock chimed in, pointing at him, "you even said so yourself the first time we were in town, that you didn't want him _near_ us!"

"So, we want to know why!" I finished.

He stared at us for a while with wide eye sockets. "He's just a trouble-maker, that's all."

That really wasn't the best thing to say in reply. "Well, so are we!" We all shouted, putting our masks on.

I felt hot tears threatening to escape from my eyes. "That's what made our past lives so rough! _Nobody_ wanted us around, because of all the pranks we pulled!"

"Listen, Shock," he said gently, raising his hands to calm us down, "I never said there was anything _wrong_ with trouble-makers. Here, they're _more than welcome._"

"But, you said Oogie was a trouble-maker when we asked questioned you just now!" Barrel exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us you sentenced him to stay locked up in his tree?"

Jack narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "Sentenced him? What in the world are you kids talking about?"

"He said so himself that's what you did to him!" Barrel continued, "All because you got jealous that he was doing a better job scaring kids, than _you_ were!"

"I would never even _fathom_ such an action!"

"But, you're explaining yourself, _now!_ After we went to find the answer for ourselves!"

"You kids never asked why I didn't trust him." Jack urged, trying his best to reason with us and calm us down at the same time.

"Do you think you could have taken in the fact that we we're both mentally and physically _exhausted_ from our coming here and entire change in, like, _everything!_" Lock shouted, tossing his mask onto the floor.

"Lock, please-"

"No!" I screamed, throwing my own mask to the ground, and silence came over the room. Barrel removed his mask, and Zero whined as he cowered behind Jack's desk beside our basket bed, under the window.

All eyes, and eye sockets, were on me now. My gloved-fists were clenched tightly and I held my dark glare. "Jack," my voice was trembling with rage and distraught and my tears continued to threaten my eyes, "you could have told us, on our way to your house, why you didn't trust him."

"But, Shock, I was focused on getting you three away from the excited townspeople. I knew how tired you must have been, and I knew you did not need all of those questions pressing on you the day you got here." He put his hands on his chest as he gently stepped closer to us, but we stepped back and cluttered together. "I _care_ about you kids."

"You could have still given us _some_ knowledge, so we knew _why_ to avoid him" I growled.

"Shock."

I turned my back to him and folded my arms. Closing my eyes immediately gave the tears permission to escape. Lock and Barrel comforted me for a moment before pausing. I could tell they were glaring at Jack, with toyed emotions reflecting in their own eyes, as well.

"Kids. . ." Jack said and he crossed the room the come right up behind us. Ignoring what Barrel and Lock were shouting at him, his long arms wrapped themselves around us and brought us close to him. I gasped, panicking. I was never, _ever_ shown this type of gesture before in my life, let alone afterlife, and my breath began to hasten drastically.

"Shock, calm down!" Barrel cried, as I began to full-on hyperventilate and attempt to push Jack's limbs away.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"Jack!" Lock began to push at his arms, as did Barrel. "Let us go!"

"No." He said firmly, yet with a touch of care to his tone, and his embrace only tightened around us. "You kids are hurting. By what I've picked up over the few days you've been here, and living with me, you never knew anyone, other than yourselves, whom you can trust. I admit it, I should have explained my reasons to you kids sooner than later, but I felt as though there was never a good time to do so.

"It makes me sad that it's come to a situation like this when I must, but at least you kids will know." He took a breath, before releasing us and turning me around to look at his face, a sympathetic smile stretched across it. "The reason why I don't want you around Oogie, is because of the mischief he causes." He held up a finger when we opened our mouths to protest. "Your type of mischief is on a different scale than his."

He smiled more as he stared at my tear-stained face, then looked at Barrel's and Lock's distraught, scared faces as well. "You kids, only prank to your pleasure and don't mean any harm. Oogie, on the other hand, has caused distress in this, here, town here and there. I warned him to ease up, so that nobody would get hurt, but he became way in over his head over time. . . I just want to keep your kids' innocent intended ways to stay the way they are. Halloween Town can use some of that after the crazy things Oogie has done."

The three of us stayed quiet. It was true: we were basically broken. There was never anyone in our lives who we could trust, nobody but the three of us. Even Barrel had it rough. He first became drawn to Lock and I when we had pranked his house on Mischief Night. Barrel had a knack for pranking, as well, and we soon became the best of friends; but, with Barrel's mom so over protective, and his father the chief of the police department, our close-knit friendship was rather hard to maintain.

But this man. This, skeleton man. He showed us a world to which we had no knowledge of. A world where we are accepted. A world where we could just be ourselves and live our lives. A world where we could actually develop a trusting relationship with other people. . . It was all so much to take in so suddenly and after so long of the complete opposite.

"Jack." I said quietly, my head bowed so my hat's rim could hide my tear-stained, pale face.

"Yes, Shock?"

I paused for a minute or two and my lip quivered slightly. "I'm sorry." A sole, final, tear trickled down my face.

"Me, too." Barrel looked down, too, his countenance the same as mine.

"Me, three."

Jack smiled warmly at us, and his empty eye sockets were filled with understanding. "Don't mention it." He gave us another tight hug, and we, for once, leaned into it.

I felt like such a jerk for the ordeal we had put this kind, skeleton man through. He was truly good-hearted and only wanted to keep us safe. Yet, we treated him so . . . I won't even finish that thought. For now, I was going to take in all of the good that we have. I know Barrel and Lock will do the same. From now on, we were going to be more open to others and be wary of the judgments that we make of others. That was to be the only thing different about ourselves. We would still be the same old little pranksters we always were, and that would never change.

However, one thing intervened in us living the lives we normally would. . . And that would be our bargain with the Boogie Man. . .

**Honestly meant to update for Halloween, but that clearly didn't happen. Hope you all had a fantastic Holiday! And I wish you all a Happy New Year! :) **


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